Fuel cell-based cogeneration system covering data centers' energy needs

The Information and Communication Technology industry has gone in the recent years through a dramatic expansion, driven by many new online (local and remote) applications and services. Such growth has obviously triggered an equally remarkable growth in energy consumption by data centers, which require huge amounts of power not only for IT devices, but also for power distribution units and for air-conditioning systems needed to cool the IT equipment. This paper is dedicated to the economic and energy performance assessment of a cogeneration system based on a natural gas membrane steam reformer producing a pure hydrogen flow for electric power generation in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. Heat is recovered from both the reforming unit and the fuel cell in order to supply the needs of an office building located near the data center. In this case, the cooling energy needs of the data center are covered by means of a vapor-compression chiller equipped with a free-cooling unit. Since the fuel cell's output is direct current rather than alternate current, the possibility of further improving data centers' energy efficiency adopting DC-powered data center equipment is also discussed. -- Highlights: ► Data centers' energy needs are discussed and possible savings from advanced energy management techniques are estimated. ► The thermal energy requirements of an office building close to the data center are added to the energy scenario. ► Significant energy and cost savings can be obtained by means of free-cooling, high-voltage direct current, and a cogeneration facility. ► The cogeneration system is based on a natural gas membrane reformer and a PEM fuel cell. ► Energy flows in the membrane reformer are analyzed and an optimal value of steam-to-carbon ratio is found in order to minimize the required membrane area.